Don't You Dare
by Upggrade
Summary: Shepard would sacrifice everything for her, but will he be forced to give up the one thing she would sacrifice everything for?
1. Chapter 1

A week after taking Chronos station, Hackett tells Shepard they've got it, they know what the catalyst is. The Citadel itself is the catalyst. He tells Shepard they're massing all the allied fleets to secure the station so the crucible can be brought in.

It only takes one indoctrinated traitor among the fleet to tip off the Reapers to the plan and suddenly it's a race to the Citadel. The massive allied fleet has the mass relay tied up so the Reapers use their superior FTL drives to come in from an adjacent system. The two massive fleets reach the station at the same time.

While the largest scale space battle in history rages, tens of thousands of shuttles and drop ships from both sides rain down all across the station. Hundreds of thousands of troops begin a desperate fight to secure the station. It quickly devolves into absolute chaos.

Shepard leads the squad up the presidium tower once again. They need to reach the main control terminal in the council chambers to fire the crucible.

The fighting is brutal, the Reapers are pouring as many ground troops as possible in to stop them, using the keeper tunnels to stay ahead of him every step of the way. While fighting their way up, Shepard has taken a horrendous amount of damage. He has over a dozen wounds from gunshots, shrapnel, burns and claws but he pays them no mind. His pain is irrelevant.

As they're fighting their way up the council chamber towards the terminal, Shepard sees a Ravager on one of the balconies above them taking aim at Jack, who doesn't see it. He tackles her to the side, taking the shot for her. His shields take most of the blast but the round still blows a massive hole in his side. They roll to a stop in cover off to the side of the room. He nearly panics when she doesn't move. He runs a scan with his omni-tool and is relieved to find she should be okay, she's just out cold.

The rest of the squad is pinned down across the room but Garrus manages to get over to them. Shepard struggles but manages to tear his eyes off of Jack and looks to Garrus.

"Get ready to cover me to that panel."

"You'll never make that run alone, I'm going with you."

"No, you're not."

"But-"

"Garrus, I need you here, with her. I need to know she'll be okay."

Garrus doesn't want to let Shepard run the gauntlet alone but knowing how important Jack is to him, he nods in agreement.

Shepard breaks cover and runs for the panel. The squad covers him and he makes it, but not without taking a round in the shoulder. If he feels it at all, he doesn't show it. He activates the panel and follows the instructions recovered from the beacon. Rather than fire the crucible, the platform he's on begins to lift into the ceiling.

He ends up in a part of the Citadel no one even knows exists. In front of him, down a long sterile hallway, is a ramp that leads up into a large round room with an unobstructed view of the unparalleled destruction going on in space. As he's walking up the ramp, he stumbles. He collapses at the top, his wounds catching up to him. He forces himself to his feet and limps to the control panel at the other end of the room.

He reaches it and a holographic display pops up. It's in Prothean but thanks to Javik he can read it. After a moment he has his hand over the button that will end the war.

With Shepard so close, the Reapers get desperate. They throw all of their might into one final attempt to seize control of his mind to stop him.

Rather than punch that button, Shepard hesitates.

 _All that death and destruction, just for it to end with one button._

 _That's all it will take._

 _Do it._

 _Should I though?_

 _What if they're telling the truth?_

 _What if they really are trying to make us something more?_

 _Who am I to take an opportunity like that and throw it away for everyone?_

Back down in the council chambers, the squad is fighting desperately to hold the room but with Shepard gone they can't keep it up for long.

Jack finally stirs and wakes up. She looks around desperately but can't see Shepard anywhere. She grabs Garrus and demands "Where the fuck did he go?!"

"He hit that panel and it took him up into the ceiling."

They're pulled back into the fight when a fresh onslaught of gunfire hits their cover. Garrus speaks to the whole squad.

"We can't keep this up, we need to fall back!"

Jack is outraged.

"What?! We're not fucking leaving him!"

"We don't have a choice, we can't hold this position."

"If you don't have the balls, then fine, fuck off! But I'm not leaving him on his own!"

She breaks cover and charges for the panel, ignoring the surprised shouts from the squad. They redouble their fire to cover her. She makes it, barely, and follows Shepard up.

With Shepard and now Jack gone, the squad can't hold their position. They hate to do it, but they have to fall back, hoping Shepard and Jack can handle themselves.

Jack walks down the hallway warily. She climbs the ramp and sees him standing there, paralyzed. She calls his name but he doesn't react. She steps up next to him and sees he has his hand over the control panel, she can't read it but she gets the idea.

"Shepard?"

When he hears her voice, it all comes flooding back to him. The Reapers are still trying their hardest to stop him but as he looks into Jacks eyes, his resolve becomes incorruptible. She takes his outstretched hand and gives him a nod. Together they firmly press the button.

When they press the button, the Citadels arms open wide, extending to their full length. Seeing this, Hackett brings in the crucible, knowing they won't have long. Hundreds of ships sacrifice themselves escorting it to the station but somehow, the crucible reaches the Citadel unharmed. When it docks, it sends a signal out across the relay network.

The spinning cores of the relays farthest from the Citadel begin spinning faster and faster, the light coming from them growing in intensity. Once they're charged enough, the cores abruptly stop spinning and all the energy stored within, a truly astronomical amount of power, is fired off to the next relay. This continues, the power levels snowballing until every relay in the network has pooled their power sources into one.

The Citadel rotates, facing directly at its relay. A blinding beam of light blasts forth from the relay to the station, utterly vaporizing any allied or Reaper ships in its path.

The station rumbles as it channels an unknowable amount of energy into the crucible. Once it's fully charged, the crucible releases the energy in one massive red blast. The wave moves at such a ridiculous speed that it only takes a day and a half for it to cover the entire galaxy.

When the wave passes over Reaper ground forces, they drop dead on the spot. When it passes over Reaper ships, their circuitry is completely burned out, leaving only an inert hulk. As it passes over allied ships and people, nothing happens. Any indoctrinated people die instantly of severe brain hemorrhaging and any computers holding Reaper code are burned out.

Back in the control room, Shepard and Jack look down at the panel in front of them, not sure if hitting that button had done anything. Jack is let down.

"The fuck, it didn't work."

"No, look at the screen, something's going on with the relays."

"That shit's in Prothean so I'll take your word for it."

They look out at the carnage surrounding the station for a moment while the crucible does its thing. Jack looks over at him when she hears him grunt. He's pressing his hand to the gaping wound in his side but there's still a river of blood pouring out. She rushes over just in time to catch him as he falls. She lowers him to the ground, cradling him in her arms and trying to help stop the bleeding. Tears form in her eyes when she realizes they're both out of medi-gel.

"No, no, John, hold on!"

"Jack, I, I-"

He coughs hard, hacking up blood.

"John, no, please…"

When he stops coughing he reaches up and cups her cheek. He tries to brush away her tears but they're coming too fast.

"Jack, I love you."

"I love you too you asshole! So don't you dare, hey, no, wake up! Wake up! No!"

She shakes his shoulders desperately but his eyes don't open. She wraps her arms around his head and holds him tight, sobbing uncontrollably.

* * *

It takes two hours before the squad finds them. They break into a sprint when they hear Jack wailing in the distance. When Jack hears them approaching, her biotics burst to life, a corona of blue energy rolling off of her.

Waves of biotic power begin to buffet the squad from as far as a hundred yards out. They struggle to press forward but the constant barrage makes staying on their feet all but impossible.

As Miranda is his best chance at surviving, Samara adds her own biotics to Mirandas barrier. Liara and Javik catch on and add their own. With their help, Miranda is able to force her way forward. Twenty feet away, she yells at Jack.

"Jack! Stop, he's alive!"

Jack is too absorbed by her grief to listen. Instead, the sound of someone getting close causes her to release an even more powerful wave. Miranda skids back several feet but manages to keep her footing.

She trudges forward and reaches them. As Miranda kneels next to Shepard, Jack squeezes him tighter and yells without looking up.

"Fuck off, you're not taking him!"

Miranda reaches out and cups Jacks face, forcing her to look up.

"JACK, HE'S ALIVE!"

Her eyes go wide with disbelief. The biotic hurricane stops abruptly, allowing the rest of the squad to come forward. She lays him down on the ground, cradling his head in her lap. Miranda immediately gets to work stabilizing him. Rather than try to deal with his numerous wounds, she liberally fills the holes in his armor with medi-gel. Garrus and Liara help, the others set up a perimeter.

When Miranda decides it's safe enough to move him, Samara lifts him off the ground, focusing all of her considerable skill on keeping him perfectly still. They make their way back to the lift as quickly as they can. There isn't much room on the lift, only Miranda, Samara and Jack are able to go down with him. There are several medics waiting to receive him. As they whisk him away, Jack moves to follow him. Miranda puts her hand on Jacks shoulder to hold her back, the single most dangerous thing she's ever done in her life.

"Jack, the best thing you can do for him now is to let the doctors do their job."

"Let go, I need to be with him!"

"You already did all you could, you kept him alive. Now it's up to them to fix him."

Jack stands stock still for a moment before storming off without a word.

* * *

The battle lasted a little longer than six hours. Almost two million ground troops landed in that time. Estimated casualties on the station were one million soldiers and two to three million civilians. The fleet suffered over seven million. They had thrown themselves straight into the enemies jaws, trying merely to be in the way long enough for the crucible to be deployed.


	2. Chapter 2

Six days later:

After being recovered, Shepard was taken to an Alliance hospital ship. Despite his unbelievable injuries, he's stable. He's out of immediate danger but he's still got a long way to go.

After six days, he still hasn't woken up. Miranda is leading the medical team looking after him. Jack has hardly left his side, only stepping out briefly to get food. She's wracked with worry. Miranda is concerned for her. That night, when it's time to change his IV, Miranda relieves the nurse and does it herself.

When she steps in the room, Jack is still in the same spot as always, seated next to Shepard, gripping his hand. She looks terrible. Her face is red and puffy from crying, she has dark bags under eyes and her hair is a disaster.

After tending to Shepard, Miranda speaks softly.

"Jack, have you been sleeping?"

"Of course not, how the hell could I?"

Mirandas heart goes out to the younger woman, she wants to think that in Jack's place she could handle it but she's not sure that's true.

"The Normandy is nearby, you should head over and get some actual sleep."

"No! I can't go anywhere, I need to be here when he wakes up."

Miranda's heart nearly breaks at that. Worrying about Shepard was running Jack ragged.

"Jack, that's not going to happen for a while." _If it does at all_ she thinks bleakly. "With his injuries, I can promise he's not waking up for at least two weeks. You have time to get some actual sleep, you really need it."

Jack thinks about it. She does feel terrible. She doesn't want to leave him, but she feels like shit, she really does need some real sleep. If he can't wake up, it should be fine, but she still feels a little guilty.

"I...yeah, okay. Keep an eye on him?"

"Of course. Now go get some rest and get yourself cleaned up, have to make sure he's got something nice to wake up to, right?" She says with a small smile.

"Heh, yeah, bet I look like a fucking raccoon. Thanks cheerleader."

She catches a shuttle over to the Normandy and makes her way up to the loft. She stands in the middle of the room and looks around, remembering all the happy memories she had from here. From big things like their first time making love to little things like a laugh shared over something stupid. The thought that there might not be more... _no, fuck that. He's gonna wake up. He's gonna wake up, push me up against that fish tank and fuck my brains out, and everything is going to be fine. It's gonna be just us from now on, no Reapers, no Cerberus, just us._

With that she gets undressed and crawls into bed on his side. She drifts off, and dares to dream about what her, no, _their,_ life would be like now that they were free.

It's the best sleep she's had since the war ended. For the first time in a week, she isn't harshly jarred awake, chased by nightmares about losing him. Instead she'd had several blissful hours imagining a happy, peaceful life together. Two years ago she would have puked if she'd even thought that sentence. Now, she wants to make it a reality more than she'd ever wanted anything else.

She looks at the clock and finds she'd slept for eleven hours. She didn't realize she was _that_ tired. Reluctantly, she gets out of bed and takes a long, relaxing shower. When she steps out she feels infinitely better. She pulls on a pair of cargo pants, plain black t-shirt and Shepard's N7 hoodie. She eats a quick breakfast and takes a shuttle back to the hospital ship.

True to Mirandas word, he's exactly where she left him. She sits with him for a little while before Miranda comes in to check on him. While taking his vitals, she speaks casually.

"Well, you're looking much better."

"Feelin' better. Thanks for talking me into it cheerleader."

"Oh don't thank me, I just wanted to get you out of my sight for a little while."

"Yeah, it was nice not having to watch your gigantic ass bouncing around."

The smiles and light tones take any venom out of the barbs. They're just more comfortable shitting on each other than they are with being decent human beings like they were last night.


	3. Chapter 3

Twelve days after the crucible fired:

Shepard finally claws his way out of the blackness. He slowly opens his eyes and looks around.

 _Medical equipment, med bay. No, the med bay doesn't have a window. Not the Normandy._

He looks around the room, taking stock of his surroundings. To his immediate left is his IV and the machine monitoring his vitals. Past that, most of the wall is actually a window, facing out towards the ludicrous number of ships in system. On his right there's-

There she is.

Jack is sitting in an arm chair, her feet pulled up onto the seat. She's using his N7 hoodie as a blanket.

His heart soars, she's alive, unhurt and she's right here. He tries to call her name but his throat is so dry and sore that he just makes a pathetic wheezing sound. He quietly clears his throat and tries again. This time he manages to croak out her name.

It's quiet but it's enough. Her eyes shoot open. She looks at him shocked, not sure she isn't dreaming. They just look at each other for a long moment while it sinks in that they survived.

When Jack snaps out of it she throws herself at him, pressing her lips firmly to his. He grunts when she leans a little too hard on his still not healed ribs. She tries to get up but he puts his arms around her and pulls her tight against him. They kiss deeply, Jack letting out all the emotions that she'd been dealing with for the last two weeks. Shepard savors every second. All the weight riding on him is gone. He can finally stop fighting for causes he doesn't care about and focus on the one thing that actually matters.

After several long moments, their lungs succeed in breaking them apart. She presses her forehead to his and speaks quietly.

"I love you. I love you you stupid, heroic asshole. You can't fucking do that to me."

Her voice breaks while she's talking, tears freely flowing down her face.

"I love you Jack. More than I know how to say."

She lifts up so she can look in his eyes. He cups her face and wipes the tears off her cheeks. She speaks, barely able to get the words out between her sobs.

"I thought...I thought I...lost you. I barely...I can't...I can't do this again Shepard."

"You won't have to. It's over. All I want now is to be with you, I'm done fighting."

"What are we gonna do?"

"A lot of this."

With that he pulls her back down to him and presses their lips together. There are no more words for a long time. They just kiss and hold each other, accepting that it's finally over.

After a while, not long enough for either of them, Shepard starts dozing off. The fire between them sapped what little energy he had. Jack lays down as well. Being mindful of his ribs she slides down and rests her head on his abdomen, wrapping her arm around his thighs.

* * *

The next day Miranda steps into the room and is shocked to find him looking back at her. She checks him over, surprised that he's awake so soon. After she tells him the extent of his injuries, which had to be some sort of record, including one rib gone, not broken, _gone_ , Jack poses an innocent question.

"So, how soon can he have me screaming into a pillow?"

Miranda rolls her eyes while Shepard laughs.

"I would also like to know, it's important for my morale."

With a heavy sigh, Miranda looks down at his vitals.

"If you really can't wait until he's let out-"

"We can't." "We can't." They reply simultaneously.

"-then at least give it a few more days. Your ribs still aren't fully healed."

Patience had never been Jack's strong suit.

"How long is a few? Half an hour?"

"Make it at least four days, and be gentle for once in your life."

With the medical stuff out of the way Miranda sits down and fills him in on what he's missed. They talk for three or four hours. Once he's up to speed and she's satisfied that he's out of the woods, Miranda leaves to go tell the squad. She doesn't tell any Alliance brass that he's awake. She knows they'll find out shortly anyway but she wants to give him as long as possible before the inevitable debriefings.

Jack heads out momentarily to get some food from the mess hall. Her feet barely touch the ground. She returns as quickly as she can. After they eat, she asks the question that's been eating at her.

"So, what are we gonna do? For real."

"Whatever we want. Now that it's over, I'm done fighting."

"Neither of us knows how to do anything else though."

"No, but we'll figure something out. The odds of us both making it were ridiculous. I'm not risking losing you ever again now that I don't have to."

She's glad to hear this. The last two weeks had been absolute hell, she couldn't imagine what it would be like if she lost him for real.

"Wow, how will the galaxy ever get by without their great hero holding their hand?"

"Don't care. You're all I want."

"What are you gonna tell them?"

"I quit?"

She rolls her eyes as she kicks her boots off and hops on to the bed. She lays down with her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes. He slips his hand under her shirt and idly traces the tattoos on her lower back.

"I'm surprised Hackett hasn't grilled me yet."

"What are you gonna tell him?"

That was something Shepard had been thinking a lot about. He could just tell them they hit the big red button and be done with it but he had a better idea. A way to make sure his reprieve would last. He knew they'd beg him to come back. They'd probably never leave him alone. He had no problem with telling them to deal with their shit themselves but he'd rather have some time before they tried to drag him out of retirement.

"I'm gonna lie."

That surprises her, there was nothing to lie about. She props herself up on an elbow and asks "About what? Why?"

"I'm going to tell them that the crucible let us talk to the AI controlling the Reapers. I'll tell them it explained why it does this. That it kept wiping out organics because we're imperfect, because we keep fighting pointless, non-stop wars. I convinced it to give this cycle another chance. It said that it'll keep watching, and if it sees us going back to the senseless fighting the Reapers will come back."

"Why though? If you're just gonna quit, who gives a shit what they think?"

"I want this peace to last as long as possible. As soon as we start fighting again, they'll come straight to me for help. I'm going to say no but I'd like as much time as possible before they start pestering me."

"So, you're really serious? You'd really tell the galaxy to suck it just for me?"

"Yup."

She gives him a big smile and leans in for a kiss. It was a pretty selfish thing for him to do but she loves him for it. No one else had ever put her ahead of anything, let alone everything. It warms her heart to hear that he would let the whole world burn just to be with her.

She lays her head back down and holds him tight. After a few minutes she jumps back up.

"Wait! What about that big ass wave that killed all the Reapers? How do we explain that?"

"Oh, shit. I hadn't thought that far into it yet. You got any ideas?"

"What if...what if the AI did it?"

"Why would it do that?"

"Faster to just kill them all instead of waiting for them all to leave."

"That'll scare the shit out of people. If there's enough Reapers that it can just kill all the ones in the galaxy, they'll know we can't risk pissing them off. Jack, you are a genius."

"Heh, you should listen to me more often, you might learn something."

Her taunting just makes him smirk. Rather than reply, he just pulls her down to him. They're interrupted a few minutes later by someone in the door clearing their throat. Jack doesn't like that one bit.

"Fuck off!"

They turn and see none other than admiral Hackett. He wasn't bothered by Jack's outburst, he actually looks rather amused.

"I would, but I'm not sure he'll survive very long if I leave you to it."

[I got the idea for the lie from another story whose name escapes me. Pretty sure it was a Shepard/Miranda pairing, if anyone recognizes it, please let me know so I can credit whoever came up with it.]


	4. Chapter 4

The council comes in to talk to Shepard about what happened. It gets off to a very inauspicious start when the Salarian questions whether someone with Jacks "history" should be present. Shepard doesn't take kindly to that but she waves him off. She tells him she doesn't want to "listen to these retards bitch about the way you saved their sorry asses." After she leaves he's in a far less amenable mood. He exposes the Asari beacon and they buy his lie about the Reapers. After the council leaves, Hackett asks Shepard if he's coming back. He's entirely unsurprised to hear a resounding no. He asks him to at least take the Normandy on a victory tour around the galaxy to help improve morale. The best Hackett gets is a maybe.

* * *

Shepard is propped up in his hospital bed, Jack is laying with him, leaning her head back onto his shoulder. They'd been trying to decide where to go but after coming up with nothing they've lapsed into a comfortable silence. They cling to each other tightly, both still expecting to wake up from this dream and find they'd lost each other.

Shepard slides his hand under her shirt and traces the tattoos on her stomach from memory. After a while, she starts dozing off but she snaps back awake when he says something she doesn't want to hear.

"Hackett wants me back."

"No shit, you tell him to suck it?"

"Not quite. I said no to actually coming back but he wants me to take the Normandy around to each homeworld. Shake hands, kiss babies, that kind of thing."

"We gonna do it?"

"You tell me. I don't really want to but at least it buys us more time before we need to come up with a plan."

"That's true. I don't want to leave the Normandy yet anyway. It's the closest I've ever felt to being home."

"That settles it then. I'll tell Joker to fly slow."

She cranes her neck around and kisses him. She still hasn't gotten used to having someone else put her first but it doesn't seem like it'll be hard to.


	5. Chapter 5

A few days after Shepard is released from the hospital:

Shepard is finally healthy enough to be released but he still has a long way to go to get back to 100 percent. He and Jack are casually strolling around the Citadel so he can stretch his legs. Predictably he's recognized despite their attempts to stay undetected.

A small crowd gathers around him, much to their mutual annoyance. He reluctantly allows the photos, knowing they'd need to get used to it. A man angrily pushes to the front of the crowd and accuses Shepard of letting his family die, of taking too long saving everyone else.

Shepard tries to keep his cool, knowing what grief like that can do to someone. Jack doesn't try at all. She explodes on him, furious that he would dare accuse Shepard of not doing enough when he'd done and given more than anyone else could, or would, have. When the man tries to bring up Shepard's decision on Rannoch, Jack decks him. Thankfully without biotics or he would have been decapitated. Shepard puts a hand on her shoulder to calm her down but she bats it away and storms off.

He catches up to her in a quiet alley with her back to him. At his approach she speaks irritated as she turns around "You shouldn't let pe- ", he cuts her off by cupping her face and pressing his lips to hers, his tongue hungrily invading her mouth. She's momentarily surprised but quickly melts before the fire coming from him. When they run out of breath he touches his forehead to hers and speaks quietly "Jack, the way you stuck up for me back there, that was amazing. I love you so much."

"Shut up and keep kissing me."

* * *

As they walk back to the apartment, using whatever maintenance areas and under used hallways they can, Jack says they're going to have to figure out how to stop getting mobbed.

"Well, having the most beautiful woman in the galaxy by my side doesn't exactly make me hard to recognize."

She looks at him, ready with a sarcastic barb, but when she looks in his eyes, she sees only warmth. She looks away to hide her sudden blush.

"Asshole."

He just smirks and squeezes her hand.


End file.
